Gerard Pique on Tuesday complained about the financial support Real Madrid receives to help build up its squad. Los Blancos spent close to $265 million this summer, including $132
million just for former Tottenham winger Gareth Bale. In an interview with the Gazzetta dello Sport, the Barca central defender implied that Real receives soft loans from
Spanish banking giant Bankia.

“I read that since 2002, Madrid has spent 1,200 million euros,” Pique said. “We have also spent, but we do not have Bankia. We still have
Messi, Xavi, [Andres] Iniesta, [Carles] Puyol, [Victor] Valdes, [Sergio] Busquets, Pedro, it is a generation that
has cost nothing. It is our key to compete with Madrid. We bought Ibra [Zlatan Ibrahimovic], [David] Villa, Neymar, but each year, what we do not do, having not won anything for a
while, is sign Bale, Illarramendi, Isco ...”